Did You Know? Center Point, Texas Once Had an Armadillo Basket Factory!
Center Point, Texas — Here’s a bit of Texas history that’ll make you do a double take: did you know that Center Point was once home to a world-famous Armadillo Basket Factory?
Back in the late 1890s, a German immigrant named Charles Apelt (1862–1944) came to Comfort after settling in Texas a few years earlier. Like many others, he started out farming. But when he encountered the Texas armadillo — specifically the nine-banded variety (Dasypus novemcinctus) — Apelt saw something most folks didn’t: a business opportunity.
Soon after, he founded the Apelt Armadillo Basket Factory right here in Center Point. Using the armadillo’s hard shell, Apelt and his workers crafted decorative baskets that quickly caught on as a novelty item. Within six years, they’d shipped more than 40,000 armadillo baskets across the U.S. and even overseas.
The operation hit its stride in the early 1900s. In 1904, Apelt showed off his unique creations at the St. Louis World’s Fair, and by the 1920s, his small-town enterprise employed dozens of local hunters and artisans. At the factory’s peak, about 100 baskets were produced each week — selling for $2.50 each, or $15 for the fancier versions trimmed with silk, beads, and bows.
But baskets weren’t the only thing Apelt made. He found new uses for armadillo shells, turning them into lamps, desk sets, and smoking stands. He even built an elaborate network of concrete burrows and tunnels to house live armadillos, which were sold to zoos, pet owners, and research facilities around the world.
Apelt ran the farm until his death in 1944, and his wife Martha kept it going until 1947. The Armadillo Farm reopened briefly in 1951 before closing for good in 1971.
While the Armadillo Basket Factory may be gone, its legacy endures — not just as a quirky chapter of Comfort’s history, but as a reminder of the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit that helped build Texas.
So next time you spot Texas Historical Marker 15777, you’ll know: behind that marker is a story of innovation, craftsmanship, and one very unusual Texas export.
